


Lonely Places

by murdergatsby



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Dark Will, Eventual Minor Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tags to be added, Wendigo Hannibal, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-03 17:10:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8721931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdergatsby/pseuds/murdergatsby
Summary: Will frees a dark creature from a trap, incidentally becoming its friend. When people in town start disappearing in flashes of blood, Will has to decide between keeping the creature to himself or doing what's right.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a submission for [Hannibal Cre-Ate-Ive's #WinterMurderland Challenge](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/post/153785169504/we-just-couldnt-resist-a-holiday-challenge-if) (focusing on a winter theme, over a holiday theme) and kinda mutated from there (it's a day late but, I haven't slept yet so...). 
> 
> This will be multiple chapters, and I have this all outlined but I have NO idea how long it's going to take me to update. Writing has been difficult lately, and I'm feeling very good to have been able to get this up tonight.
> 
> Some quick notes that probably aren't all that important:  
> \- I have taken a lot of liberties with the myth behind wendigos for this. Please don’t use this piece at all for a source on the folklore. Idk why someone would do this but, maybe.  
> \- I constructed Will's character traits in this, from isolated events in the series when he was reaching out to help someone in need: Winston and Georgia Madchen being the main examples I used. I don't usually write him from this direction, so it's new to me! And kind of experimental. Please forgive me while I try and work things out, and be gentle.  
> \- This is totally inspired by the... er... Children's book? (not really a children's book) It Ate Billy On Christmas by Steven Daily and Roman Dirge. It's like the grown up, slightly pervy version. You should read it.  
> \- Speaking of pervy, THIS IS A TWISTED AND DARK ROMANCE so not everything is going to be the most moral or righteous. If you don't want to read something twisted and dark, please do not read this thing. People are gonna die, and Will is going to make bad life choices.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this ❤︎

The sound of metal snapping was unmistakable- it was what followed that had Will sitting just as erect as all his dog’s ears. It sounded like the wind, with more roar and less whistle. All eight bodies waited to hear the comforting sound of the trees bending, the prickles of pine needles as they struck the outer-wood of the house… but it never came. The next sound was an echoed sob, distinctly human however much Will’s mind wanted to tell him it was _just the wind._

Unfortunately, Buster had the same lack of faith. He leapt from Will’s lap and charged the door with abandon, ready to defend his family from the haunting _sound_.

Nine out of ten times the overprotective rescue did this, he made hard contact with the frame of the door. Nine out of ten times, he settled for barking ad nauseam while his pack leader cursed him under his breath. Nine out of ten times, Buster never learned what was waiting for them on the other side of the door, and found himself feeling less than satisfied. But, it was not a nine out of ten kind of night and the door swung open, striking the outside of the house with a hollow ‘spring.’ Buster darted off into the dark woods that surrounded Will’s property, and disappeared.

Will heard himself gasp Buster’s name before he could even fathom what was occurring. He stumbled to his feet and pushed past the wall of observing dogs, still scattered about on the floor- they knew better than to be Buster.

With the cold and the strange sound on his mind, Will moved quickly. His home was on a stretch of wooded land that went on for at least a few acers. He had neighbors, but none close enough to see from his own porch. He knew Buster could get lost somewhere on the property, easy. _And that sound…_

One arm in a jacket and one hand pulling on a shoe, Will hopped after Buster’s sprayed trail of prints in the snow. The snow wasn’t very deep, but Buster wasn’t very tall- he had to leap to get to his next destination. Normally Will found it cute but, in this circumstance, it only increased his fear. He wasn’t fully mobile. He couldn’t run if he needed to.

“Buster!” He called, knowing it would do nothing to get him back. Buster was the kind of dog to only behave if he knew punishment was around the corner. Will couldn’t even _see_ him, much less threaten him with punishment.

Rambling onto root laden earth, Will could hear his heartbeat throbbing in his ears. He couldn’t make out the shape of his home anymore, and the light of the moon and stars was choked by foliage. He noticed how the snow was becoming sparser around his steps, and that Buster’s trail was becoming more and more faint. His eyes darted through the scenery- from ground to horizon, behind him and around him- looking for the reflective whiteness of Buster’s rump.

Then, saw something that stopped him completely.

It was a mistake that he saw him; he would have blended completely if not for the iridescent glow of his eyes as he stared Will down from the dark.

Against a tree, no more than 6 feet in front of him, reclined a man… but not quite man. He was something man- _adjacent_ , with skin the color of soot and branch-like antlers that plumed from the top of his head. He stared through Will, as if he wasn’t sure Will had seen him- as if he thought Will wouldn’t see him if he didn’t move.

Will stared back, unsure of what to do- unsure if what he saw was even real.

A single bark broke their tension, as Buster found his way back to Will. He leapt between him and the perceived enemy, growling and raising his haunches.

Will’s brain swept back into panic, watching the creature’s eyes flick away from him and down to the chubby, bravery-high pup that was preparing to lunge at him.

“Don’t.” He heard himself snap. He wasn’t sure if he was speaking to Buster or the creature, but they both looked to him. They both had the same will-to-defy in their eyes, that Will had no interest in giving them time to mull over. He bent quickly and scooped Buster up in his arms. Then, went back to observing in a stunned silence.

The creature growled defensively, so softly it was nearly a purr, snapping his lips up over bright and sharp teeth. He was _big_ \- broad chested and heavy- but there was something just as equally nonthreatening about him; something lithe and elegant.

He sat with his legs stretched to the side and his palms to the ground, like a demonic pin-up. However, following the lines his body, Will could see the bear trap clamped on his leg. He was trapped.

 _That must be so painful._ He thought. The creature didn’t look like he was in immediate agony but, then again, neither did most animals when they were in this kind of pain. _But this isn’t an animal…I it?_

Will chewed at his lip and bounced Buster in the crook of his arm. He was growing heavier each minute they stood in silence, and he couldn’t risk putting him back to the ground. He needed to go back home.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, and gasped inwardly as he watched the creature’s eyes soften to it. He understood it.

Will turned away, wordless, and ventured back in the direction of his home. It wasn’t long before he could see the string of white lights that lined his roof, and see the flickering warmth of the fire he had going inside.

Once safe behind the door, he placed Buster into one of the many dog beds he had available. He counted the other dogs as they sniffed their returned brother and, once satisfied with the present count of seven, he dipped into the deeper parts of his home. And, on his reentrance to the main room, he wore a warmer jacket and held a heavy crowbar.

He had no intention of leaving that thing to die, whether he understood it’s existence or not.

Before leaving, he knelt next to his valiant warrior of a mutt.

“If you’re not here when I get back,” He warned, with a stern and honest tone. “I’m not going to go find you again.”

Buster huffed and avoided eye contact, much more interested in what may have changed in the home while he was out sampling different smells. They both knew Will was lying, anyway.

\--

Will found the creature in the same place but, instead of the defensive pose Will had viewed on him before, he was slumped over himself with a sense of defeat. His clawed fingers dug into the flesh that the trap closed in on, and he paid Will no mind.

What he was doing looked more excruciating than the trap itself, but still the only signs of discomfort he showed were shallow. He made short, shuttered gasps of suffering that were hardly louder than a deep breath. He snarled his lips, flared his nostrils, and never broke contact with the meat he was attempting to strip from himself.

In the time it took Will to return with the tool he needed to help, he had made peace with taking off his own leg.

“Hey!” Will shouted, seeing that the creature was too involved to notice his arrival.

The creature looked up at him, pausing his scrabbling in a way that made him appear nothing less than a racoon pawing through trash.

Will drew in a deep breath. “I want to help get you out of that.” He explained. “But I need to know that you can understand me.”

The creature blinked at him. His eyes dropped down the silhouette of Will’s body, studying him and paying extra attention to the steel bar he gripped at. He didn’t look afraid, just inquisitive. 

“Do you?” Will asked, trying to catch his focus again. “Do you understand me?”

The creature looked back and up into Will’s eyes. Will couldn’t help but notice the sharp angle his cheekbones took, and the full bow of his lips. He was handsome, ethereal. If Will never saw him again, he was certain in that moment that he would never again see something so peculiarly beautiful, and that he would likely miss it.

The creature nodded. Will drew in another deep breath.

The steps he took towards him were slow and evenly spaced. He didn’t want to move too quickly, and he feared stumbling over the unforgiving winter soil. When he was close enough to touch, Will watched the creature flinch from him and snarl.

“Hey.” Will cooed, much gentler than the time he called to him before. He’d seen this behavior in dogs, and knew it well. It was a want for help, with the inability to ensure their own safety from the individual they’re asking. _Trust_ was what was needed to remedy it.

“I have to get close to you, and you have to let me.” Will explained. He kept his voice sweet and even, calm and inviting. He would have offered a hand out to him, so that the creature might take the first move to touch him, but the thought of that filled Will with his own protective dread. He could imagine that this creature possessed the ability to tear limbs from their joints.

“If you hurt me, I can’t help you. Okay?”

The creature didn’t look to Will this time, just kept his eyes to his bleeding leg. He nodded, and sighed in a fashion similar to Will.

Moving grotesquely slow, Will cautiously placed a hand to the creature’s knee. The injury was at his ankle, but he wanted to progress there slowly, too.

He felt cold, but not as freezing as should be. Where a normal person would have body hair, he seemed to a fine layer of black fur that was impossibly soft to the touch. It reminded Will of the undercoat of a beaver, or an otter, and made him wonder if he might be aquatic in some way.

Will started to move his hand, feeling the creature’s body relax under it the closer he got the wound. By the time he was on top of it, the creature had stopped looking away and started observing Will’s every move instead.

Where the trap closed, his leg was torn up. Some from the initial closing of the trap, Will was sure, but mostly from his tugging and scratching. He had done enough mangling to expose parts of the bone, which Will could see were unbroken.

 _That’s impressive._ He thought. The trap he had stuck to him was designed to take down bears, and Will had seen one shatter plywood.

He looked down the remaining length of his leg, to find that, instead of a foot, he had a hoof that was pinched up at a tight angle. He looked ready to kick and Will made a note to keep an eye on it after he got it free.

The build of that part of his leg reminded Will of deer, matching with the antlers that topped his head. Upon the connection, Will considered that this creature might _be_ something in the same vein as a deer. He had the same empty curiosity and proud caution. However, Will couldn’t remember a deer ever feeling this dangerous.

“I know this hurts a lot now, but when I take the pressure off it… This is going to hurt a lot more.” Will said, still making every effort to speak calmly. “But it’ll save your leg.”

The creature sighed again, and nodded with continued understanding. He looked peaceful- not comfortable, entirely, but in a mental state where he felt _okay_. Something about that compelled Will to smile at him as he stood back up on his feet.

The trap was large, and made for two people rather than one, but Will was hoping the crowbar would help make up the difference. On either side of the traps teeth, were eleven inch springs made to step on. Applying weight to them would start to pull the teeth apart and off his leg.

“Try and breathe through it, alright?” Will suggested, taking his own special care to breathe.

He started to step down on the spring most accessible to him, and watched the creature’s body tense and writhe as the metal left new parts of him raw. Will could tell he was trying hard to block it, and have the pain barricaded behind a stern but relaxed expression, but a whimper fell from his lips regardless.

“Shh, shh, shhh.” Will caught himself whispering. “It’s okay.”

Will wanted to touch him again, and help ease this. He knew that wouldn’t be wise to act on.

When Will’s weight took the spring as far as it would go, he carefully aligned the crowbar with the teeth of the trap. It was tricky to find an angle that avoided his leg and still gave Will the leverage he needed, but once he found it manipulating the mouth was easy.

“I need you to start pulling your leg out as you can. Don’t force anything, though. Can you do that?”

He turned to the creature’s face, and tried not to stare absently. The creature’s head was tipped back and away from sight. His breaths were heavy with stress.

“I need confirmation that you heard me.” Will added.

The creature nodded furiously, and waved his hand out in a casual, and very human, way of suggesting that Will ‘get along with it.’

Will nodded back, and twisted the crowbar. The teeth spread half an inch, and the creature pulled a bit of his foot free. Another half inch, and he was able to move just a bit more. With two people, the process could have taken seconds; this method was slow but, eventually, the creature’s foot was his again.

When he was completely clear of it, Will let the teeth close back down on the crowbar and stepped off the spring. It snapped shut again, emitting the same metallic echo through the woods from before, and disallowing Will access to his crowbar again.

The creature stayed leaning against his tree. He crossed both his legs, and helped the damaged one into his lap. He inspected the injury as if it weren’t on himself- as if it were someone else who was in breathtaking agony only seconds before. The pain was mastered again, now that it wasn’t fresh or being re-introduced, and he looked nearly serene.  

Will knelt beside him, and gently touched at his shoulder. The creature didn’t flinch, but turned to look at him with a slight confusion.

Suddenly, Will found himself on his back and pressed into the hard, uneven ground. The creature shoved him and took his own turn to stand, pressing his injured foot into Will’s throat.

The creature towered above him, looking down at him with harmful intent. Will felt like gladiator, waiting for his fate to be decided by some entertained third party… but it was just the two of them. It was up to the creature, what happened.

“Did you ever consider I would kill you?” The creature asked. The sound of his voice was shocking. His voice was deep, accented, and alluring. It fit him, but it felt as if the sound has no business coming from his lips; he was too wild to sound to that way.

“Yeah.” Will answered, staring up at him with large and watery eyes. He wasn’t crying from fear, he was just awestruck by what was before him. This was all so much to take in, and had been from the very beginning.

The creature huffed and smirked. He looked genuinely entertained, near delighted, with Will’s answer. “And still, you helped me?” He asked.

“Yes.” Will said, nodding.

“Why?”

Will felt himself smile, and heard himself laugh, but he couldn’t think of a logical reason why. It bubbled out of him and couldn’t stop because of the tenseness in his stomach.

“Well…” He began. “What if you _didn’t_?”

The creature laughed with him and shook his head. Gradually, his smile faded and he removed his foot from Will’s throat. And, before Will could let himself up, the creature fled deeper into the woods and disappeared among the trees.


End file.
